Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is a watercolor drawing by Kim McCarty. It dates from 2003 and is held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
About this work
Overview
Her 2003 work *Untitled*, held by The Museum of Modern Art, exemplifies her focus on quiet, introspective imagery.
Kim McCarty, born in 1956 in Los Angeles, works primarily in watercolor, pushing the medium beyond traditional boundaries through large-scale, layered compositions. Her 2003 work *Untitled*, held by The Museum of Modern Art, exemplifies her focus on quiet, introspective imagery. The piece is executed in translucent washes that accumulate gradually, creating depth without sharp definition. The paper’s surface remains visibly present, contributing to the work’s tactile quality.
Subject & Meaning
The portrait depicts a young boy with half-closed eyes, his expression indistinct yet contemplative. There is no narrative context, and the figure exists in a liminal space, neither fully present nor entirely dissolved. The ambiguity invites quiet reflection rather than interpretation. McCarty avoids overt emotion, instead evoking a sense of solitude and inner stillness through the boy’s withdrawn gaze and softened features.
Technique & Style
McCarty builds the image through multiple transparent washes, allowing each layer to dry before the next is applied. This method creates subtle shifts in tone, with pinks and purples pooling in areas of shadow while leaving the paper’s texture exposed. The edges of the face blur as pigments migrate across the damp surface, producing a hazy, atmospheric effect. The technique emphasizes process and materiality over precise representation.
History & Provenance
Created in 2003, *Untitled* entered the collection of The Museum of Modern Art shortly after its completion. It is one of several watercolors by McCarty acquired by the museum during a period of renewed institutional interest in contemporary drawing. The work has not been widely exhibited but remains a key example of her sustained exploration of watercolor’s potential for psychological nuance.
Context
McCarty’s practice emerged in the context of late 20th-century revisions of watercolor as a serious medium, moving beyond its association with sketching or landscape. Her work aligns with artists who use the medium to explore memory, impermanence, and the body’s fragility. Unlike traditional portraiture, her figures resist identification, reflecting broader contemporary concerns with ambiguity and the limits of representation.
Legacy
McCarty’s approach has influenced a generation of artists reconsidering watercolor’s capacity for emotional depth and material complexity. Her method of slow, cumulative layering has become a reference point for those seeking to move beyond the medium’s conventional associations with spontaneity or delicacy. *Untitled* stands as a quiet but persistent example of how watercolor can convey presence through absence.
Artist & collection
Artist
Kim McCarty (born February 10, 1956, in Los Angeles, California) is an artist and watercolor painter living and working in Los Angeles, California.
